My first cross bike (low budget build), need wheel advice.

[Soloist Assassin]

Well, here's the deal. I recently built this budget bike for cyclocross racing. It's an old 2007 Redline Conquest pro. The wheels I have on it, are off of my single speed commuter bike, that I never ride. I swapped some Ritchey Speedmax 30mm wide tires on them, and slapped a bunch of parts I had sitting around together, and viola.



I only have less than $500, in it. Well I weighed it the other day at the LBS, and I was a bit unimpressed, but optimistic. With 1/10 first gen Force, and heavy Alex wheels, it was 20.06lbs. The wheels with tires alone are 2969g/pr. Well, I really want to build a set of Chris King R45 / Velocity Major Tom wheels for cross racing, if I like it as much as I think I will. Well for now, I am thinking of upgrading the fork to a carbon unit, that should drop a ton of weight. The steel fork has got to be at least 1200g so this 550g Bontrager unit should drop a good bit of mass, and also with the fork mounted brake cable hanger it will make it read for the Paul Neo Retro brakes I just bought.



So that should lighten the frontend, a bit, but the problem of the wheels remains. It might be awhile before I have the extra funds to build an $750-800 wheelset, so I am thinking of robbing my Spinergy Stealth FCC carbon clincher wheels from my Cervelo, and mounting the cross tires on there. They are only 1500g, ride extremely well, and have proved to be very strong. These are the wheels here:



I've not ever had to true them, and they have been my main set of training wheels on my race bike all year. I also have a rain/crit/training bike so I will still be able to ride it. Plus if I really want to ride my Cervelo for some reason, I still have a set of 404 tubies I race on that I can put on it. So what do you think good or bad idea using the Spinergys for cross racing? I just feel like I have the wheels, I might as well use them, but I don't want to thrash them either. I know cross is a dirty sport. The thing that scares me, is they are only 16/20 spoke, and the front is radial laced, which I know isn't ideal for cross. They are the PBO spokes that they claim to be 3x the strength of stainless steel. So they might be alright, that's probably why I haven't had to ever true them. I only weigh 150lba, so please factor that in too.

[Juanmoretime]

My cross bike came with Mavic Aksium's and while not light they do roll nicely. Everyone that I know that does serious cross wears out carbon rims every other year. The mud and braking cause some very fast wear on the brake track. So keep in mind you will trash them pretty badly in a muddy race. I'm thinking about some less expense alloy tubulars next year depending on how the racing cross goes this year.

I too replaced my carbon alloy steer tube fork that came with my bike (770 grams) with a Reynolds cross fork (440 grams) also mine had Ritchey Speed Comps with steel bead so I have a Stan's tubeless kit and a set of Michelin Mud 2's to go on which will be good for another 3/4 of a pound loss and better mud traction.

Got carbon fork cheap!

[Soloist Assassin]

Thanks, that's the help I was looking for. I did get those Spinergy wheels cheap, but there is no sense in killing them. I'll just wait until I can afford the Chris King / Major Tom combo. I'll roll what I have until then.

[Soloist Assassin]

I never thought carbon rims, and cross was a good idea, but lots of people seem to do it for some reason.

[Fuchs]

because carbon rims looks much cooler
the other thing is that you can drive throu mud a bit better with high profile wheels and and you do not wanna have the extra weight from heavy high profile alu rims.

nice bike you have there by the way. the new fork will look good in it i think.

[Soloist Assassin]

because carbon rims looks much cooler
the other thing is that you can drive throu mud a bit better with high profile wheels and and you do not wanna have the extra weight from heavy high profile alu rims.

nice bike you have there by the way. the new fork will look good in it i think.

Why thank you. I think it's funny the fork has "RL" real big on the side of it. It's like it was destined for a Redline. I like that it has a aluminum steerer, and brake cable hanger too. As you can see I don't have much room for any spacers.

The thing that worries me about deep profile wheels, is it seems like simply more surface area for mud to collect. Carbon just doesn't seem like a good idea at all for cross. I think the Velocity Major Tom, is the like the best rim for cross, for people that don't want to replace stuff all the time. 23mm wide for plenty of glue surface area, and 21mm deep for less crap to build up on it. Plus it's aluminum.